'Coronation Street' star Beverley Callard has revealed she tried to kill herself 'half a dozen times' and received electric shock treatment after she had a breakdown when the two pubs she ran went bust.

The actress - who plays Rovers Return barmaid Liz McDonald in the ITV soap - was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 2009.

Beverley Callard with Piers Morgan

In an interview with Piers Morgan for his 'Life Stories' show, Liz revealed she tried to take her own life by slashing her wrists with light bulbs and hoarding pills.

“I tried maybe half a dozen times, but it wasn’t a cry for help at all," she said.

“I’d known for quite a while that I wasn’t myself, but I didn’t really know what to do about it.

“I was going to work and I was still filming and I didn’t really talk to anyone about it and on that day they took me into The Priory in the early hours of the next morning and John said, and my doctor said, I looked like a 100 year old woman.

“They tried different medications but none of them seemed to work.”

It was whilst in The Priory that Beverley was given electric shock treatment, which damaged her short-term memory, which made it difficult for her to learn her lines.

“I stored up tablets… I have to say I can’t remember. I just wanted my life to stop.”

She added: “You feel completely unlovable and you feel as if you’ve got nothing to offer.

“No matter what happens nothing changes that. So I thought at the time, (her son) Josh would have been better off without me anyway.”

After having treatment, Beverley returned to the set of 'Coronation Street' four months later.

She said: “I actually, now, don’t know how I learnt my lines.

“It was really a double life at that point. People stand on the gate waiting to meet people who are in Coronation Street and I couldn’t sign my autograph because I couldn’t remember how to spell my name.

"I truly couldn’t write my name for the first six months.”

Her full interview will be broadcast on 'Piers Morgan's Life Stories' on ITV at 9pm tonight (Friday)